Editing Jim Davis (cartoonist) (section)

==Early and personal life==
[[File:Jim Davis (Yearbook Portrait 1962).jpg|Davis' yearbook photo, 1962|thumb|left|200px]]
James Robert Davis was born in [[Marion, Indiana]], on July 28, 1945.<ref>{{Cite book |last=De Weyer |first=Geert |title=100 stripklassiekers die niet in je boekenkast mogen ontbreken |publisher=Atlas |year=2008 |isbn=978-90-450-0996-4 |location=[[Amsterdam]] / [[Antwerp]] |page=244 |language=nl}}</ref> He grew up on a small Black Angus cow farm<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jim Davis Bio |url=https://premierespeakers.com/jim-davis/bio |access-date=October 5, 2020 |website=Premiere Speakers Bureau |archive-date=December 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202222813/https://premierespeakers.com/jim-davis/bio |url-status=live }}</ref> in [[Fairmount, Indiana]], with his father James William Davis, mother Anna Catherine "Betty" Davis (née Carter), and his brother Dave. Davis's childhood on a farm parallels the life of Garfield's owner, [[Jon Arbuckle]], who was also raised on a farm with his parents and a brother, Doc Boy, and is also a cartoonist whose birthday is on July 28. Davis attended [[Ball State University]] where he studied art and business; one of his fellow students was [[David Letterman]]. At Ball State he became a member of the [[Theta Xi]] [[Fraternities and sororities|fraternity]].

At Fairmount High School in 1959, Davis joined the staff of his school's newspaper ''The Breeze'', where he became Art Editor. Here his first comic was featured, apparently inspired by school life. Davis also drew the majority of the illustrations for his 1963 senior yearbook, using the same characters.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG6y6FkMEQ4&t=47s |title=My Garfield Vacation: A Historical Voyage |date=June 12, 2020 |type=Video |publisher=Quinton Reviews |access-date=June 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/IG6y6FkMEQ4 |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=0 Pre-Pendleton |url=https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BY8LbndpcUiRQeaF4kJ9Z53S_JXJYpYM |access-date=October 5, 2020 |via=[[Google Drive]] |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606004016/https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BY8LbndpcUiRQeaF4kJ9Z53S_JXJYpYM |url-status=live }}</ref>

Davis has been married twice. He was married to Carolyn Altekruse, who was allergic to cats;<ref name="Time">{{Cite magazine |date=December 7, 1981 |title=Those Catty Cartoonists |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,953256-2,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=June 6, 2020 |archive-date=April 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220430130011/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,953256-2,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the couple owned a dog named Molly.<ref name="everything2">{{Cite web |title=Jim Davis - Everything2.com |url=http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Jim+Davis |website=Everything2.com |access-date=November 16, 2017 |archive-date=November 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117070030/https://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Jim+Davis |url-status=live }}</ref> They have a son.<ref name="Time" /> On July 16, 2000, Davis married Jill, who had two children from a previous marriage.<ref name="everything2" />

Davis joined the faculty of [[Ball State University]] in Muncie as an adjunct professor in fall 2006, lecturing on the creative and business aspects of the comics industry.

Davis resides in [[Albany, Indiana]], where he and his staff produce ''Garfield'' under his company [[Paws, Inc.]], which he founded in 1981.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 25, 2022 |title=Jim Davis |url=https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/artists/jim-davis/ |access-date=January 25, 2022 |website=[[The Saturday Evening Post]] |archive-date=January 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125225220/https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/artists/jim-davis/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Paws, Inc. employs nearly 50 artists and licensing administrators, who manage ''Garfield'''s worldwide licensing, syndication, and entertainment empire.

Davis is a former president of the Fairmount, Indiana chapter of the [[National FFA Organization|FFA]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=National FFA Organization Prominent Members |url=https://www.ffa.org/documents/about_prominentmembers.pdf |publisher=National F.F.A. Organization |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713074526/http://www.ffa.org/documents/about_prominentmembers.pdf |archive-date=July 13, 2010}}</ref>

In December 2019, Davis announced that he would hold weekly auctions for all hand-painted ''[[Garfield]]'' comics made from 1978 to 2011. He explained that he started drawing comics digitally using a [[graphics tablet]] in 2011. Older comics remained sealed in a climate-controlled safe, and Davis had to figure out what to do with them.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Muncy |first=Julie |date=December 21, 2019 |title=Garfield Cartoonist Jim Davis Is Putting 30 Years of Strips Up for Auction |url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/garfield-cartoonist-jim-davis-is-putting-30-years-of-st-1840579280 |access-date=December 23, 2019 |website=io9 |language=en-us |archive-date=December 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222204848/https://io9.gizmodo.com/garfield-cartoonist-jim-davis-is-putting-30-years-of-st-1840579280 |url-status=live }}</ref>